


it was only four months

by allmadeofstardust



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Barry certainly doesn't know, Or Is It?, Starvation, Stolen Century, Torture, inspired by another work, it's not graphic, so the death isn't permanent, technically, this is all angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-23 01:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20884241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmadeofstardust/pseuds/allmadeofstardust
Summary: "It was only four months," Barry said."Seven, wasn't it?" they said.  "The Lobos don't take prisoners.""They do, actually.  Sometimes."





	it was only four months

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tardigradeschool](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tardigradeschool/gifts).
  * Inspired by [highest fall you'll ever grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12329538) by [tardigradeschool](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tardigradeschool/pseuds/tardigradeschool). 

> aka this fic was directly inspired by the above quote from tardigradeschool's fic "highest fall you'll ever grace" (it's a fantastic fic, go read it)

The Lobos was really a stupid name they picked for themselves, but it fit the lot of them. Dumb as rocks, they were. But they were smart enough to pin down Barry. Smart enough to leave enough blood behind from the wound on his head to make it look like they'd killed him.

He would've screamed, if he didn't know it would draw the rest of the crew right towards him. Towards death. So he kept silent.

There were seven months left. They'd be okay.

The Lobos (god he couldn't help but laugh at the name) threw him in a small cramped cell in a fortress somewhere, a few guards huddled around a fire right outside. His head really hurt, but the bleeding had stopped, which was a small relief. Gods knew that he wasn't that good at healing spells. He looked around. It was dark and uncomfortable, but at least it felt warm.

He lay down on the floor and thought of his family. He hoped they weren't too broken up about his supposed death.

Who was he kidding. They'd be pretty damn sad.

He curled up into a ball and waited until morning.

***

They didn't visit for the first few days, save a deposit of meager bread and water. He silently wished he had Taako's transmutation magic at his fingertips. Instead, he imagined the taste of what it could be. Freshly baked, with a rosemary and garlic infused crust.

He had already tested the bars, already scouted the place out. Necromancy was never worth much when fighting the living. Or stone.

On the fourth day, two men grabbed him roughly and dragged him outside. Barry didn't put up a fight - what was the point?

The creature in front of him was holding a nasty looking butcher's knife, and Barry almost wanted to roll his eyes at the cliche nature of it all. They'd probably chop off his fingers by the end of it. He really hoped they'd kill him first. He liked his fingers.

After about a half hour, his fingers were still intact. His ear, however, had gone missing. He wished that they had given him the remnant. He could have fixed it easily. At the very least he wished it would stop bleeding.

****

It was another week before they interrogated him again.

It wasn't as if threats of death scared him anymore. Sure, he liked being alive. But the moment they killed him here, he'd wake up with his family. With Lup.

At least, he hoped that was what would happen. There was always the nagging doubt in the back of his mind that this would be the final cycle. This would be it.

He tried to never give into those thoughts.

These fuckers made it hard though. They made up lies.

"Your friends are all dead."

"There's no point in resisting."

"Just give in."

They were very bad liars. That's what he held onto, when all they did was beat him up and try and convince him that his friends were gone. That his family had failed.

As he was being dragged back to his cell, sporting a new black eye, he overheard a few of them in the corner he passed.

"Not sure how much we've got left."

"Bah, just steal some more from the village."

"We  _ have _ ."

"More food will turn up, don't worry."

Dumb as rocks.

Barry rationed his bread that night.

***

The Lobos decided after that that persuasion wasn't their strongest skill. Barry figured as much - they were too ugly to have Charisma as their highest stat.

It sucked that they still had proficiency in intimidation.

He didn't have much to say. Like hell he was gonna say jack _ shit _ about his family. What was the worst they could do? Kill him?

He laughed in their face, finally, when they asked the same question they had been asking for the past two months.

They  _ did _ cut off a finger then. And it fucking hurt.

He wondered, as he sat on the cold cell floor staring ahead, picking at his daily ration, why the whole situation didn't frighten him more. He  _ could _ be the only one left. He had never seen his family get back to the ship. They could be telling the truth.

He used to be the coward of the group. It should have been Magnus here, spitting in his captor's face. And yet, he endured it all because he had faith. They were smart, and strategic, and they would have made it out.

There wasn't any bread delivered that night.

***

They pulled him out again, and this time Barry knew they were growing tired of this. Fair enough - Barry was too.

He stayed quiet this time, instead of his usual repeated "I don't know"s. Looked at the one in charge. As they kicked him and punched him and cut off another finger (god _ damnit _ it hurt,  _ fuck _ ) he pondered what this creature was gonna do against the Hunger. If these people were all that existed, if everyone just tore at each other's throats and thought that food was going to magically appear from the sky, were they even worth saving?

Before they gave up and brought him back, they dislocated his kneecap. He thought the leader did it out of spite.

He was forced to crawl painfully over to his supply of bread. He counted it. Watched the guards outside walk by.

They didn't need him anymore. And they needed food themselves more than some useless prisoner.

Barry sighed and began eating today's ration.

***

A week went by, and his supply ran out. He could hear squabbling outside, people fighting over a scrap of meat. Barry forgotten.

He didn't want it to end this way. He wished there were a window where he could see the sky, see if the Starblaster was out there, in the black. He figured there were still about four months to go. He wanted so desperately to know if he was right. Or if the Lobos were.

He had spent the past few months denying their claims. Focusing so much on his wishes, on his belief.

Now, he didn't know what to believe anymore.

A few more days passed. He had never died this way in previous cycles. He hated it. He hated the pain in his body and the shivering and the clouded vision.

He focused on his family. On Lup. Oh god he missed her so much.

Eventually, things started to fade. And he decided then that, regardless of whatever had happened out there, regardless of whether they'd made it - he'd see them again soon. One way or another.

He drifted off into oblivion thinking of Lup's face.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm all-made-of-stardust over on Tumblr!


End file.
